Committee Allows for Shorter Calendar

The Committee on Educational Planning, Policies and Programs approved a policy change that could reduce each academic semester by one week in a near-unanimous vote.

The policy change calls for UNC-system schools to provide a minimum of 750 minutes of class time per credit hour, including exam periods.

Under the current policy UNC-system schools have to offer 75 class days a semester, excluding exam periods.

Each UNC-system school will have to alter its own policy before the calendar change can take affect.

"Some campuses I know will not change their existing (academic) calendar)," said Gretchen Bataille, UNC-system senior vice president for academic affairs.

The UNC-CH Faculty Council approved a resolution last September asking the BOG to shorten the academic year.

The current calendar came into effect in 1996, when then-UNC-system President C.D. Spangler increased the academic calendar from 140 to 150 days.

On Thursday the BOG Budget and Finance Committee also voted on a one-time exemption for two UNC-system schools that violated the 18 percent out-of-state freshmen enrollment cap for the second consecutive year.

The Office of the President recommended that the BOG exempt the two UNC-system schools -- Elizabeth City State University and UNC-Wilmington -- from budget reductions for violating the cap because of budget cuts already sustained by the UNC system.

Declining state revenues have forced Gov. Mike Easley to order a 2.7 percent budget reduction for the UNC system, a total of about $42 million.

Elizabeth City State was only two students over the cap out of a freshman class of 366. UNC-Wilmington was 31 students over the cap out of a freshman class of 1,996.

James Smith, UNC-system associate vice president of finance, said it is often difficult for schools to come in perfectly under the cap.

"Enrollment management is an art. ... You are admitting qualified students, but not all of them show up at your institution," Smith said.

Even though the committee approved the exemption, several members expressed concern that qualified in-state students had not been granted admission to the universities in favor of out-of-state applicants.

"(UNC-W) is one of our fastest growing institutions. ... I don't understand why (it) has gone over two years in a row," said BOG member Priscilla Taylor. "It's certainly not from a dearth of applicants."

Last year the BOG suspended its policy for the first time when UNC-CH violated the enrollment cap by two students.

Jeff Davies, UNC-system vice president of finance, said, "Last year was the only other time we suspended the policy, and I hope this will be the last time."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.